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ROCHESTER — One more? Elvis Costello held up his finger questioningly in the sixth song of his encore Wednesday night. The Auditorium Theater resounded with cheers and clapping. One more. And when it was done, again he raised his finger. One more?
It was an encore that amounted to almost a whole second concert. Costello, who in his bad-tempered younger days spurned curtain calls completely, came back once, twice, three times to play a grand total of 15 extra numbers.
This display of generosity had begun nearly two hours earlier with "Accidents Will Happen," the fast version, coming on in a rush with Costello's trio, the Attractions, blazing full force, bringing the near sell-out crowd instantly to its feet.
In slick and unexpected segues, he mixed and matched material from all stages of his eight-album career, banking the old roaring rockers down into the mellow moods of his current album release, Imperial Bedroom, turning the O'Jays' sly, street-wise "Back Stabbers" into a full-blown partying romp this seamlessly slid into his anti-heroin track, "King Horse."
Costello's increasing sophistication as a singer showed not only in his mastery of the quiet sentiments of new items like "Town Cryer," but also in his reconstructions of old favorites.
Some, like the Linda Ronstadt hit, "Alison," had their simple melodies playfully convoluted. Others, like "Secondary Modern" and "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down," were reblocked completely to accommodate the evolving talents of the other most-improved musician on stage, keyboardist Steve Nieve.
Nieve is no longer the naive operator of a reedy Farfisa organ. He commanded four keyboards and an endless array of sound textures, including the strings and horns that backed Imperial Bedroom.
As stage performers, Costello and his band can't quite replicate all their new studio tricks, however. "Beyond Belief" from the current album seemed weaker without its electronic vocal effects. There were no harmony vocals at all, which stripped the major charm from "Tears Before Bedtime."
Beyond that, the sound system was seriously inadequate for a man many consider the Bob Dylan of '80s rock. His words, his wonderful aphorisms and double meanings, were lost in this fuzzy apparatus. As a result, an unfamiliar tune, like the unreleased title track to Imperial Bedroom, had a bedroom effect on the crowd. It took a minute before full energy returned to their applause.
It was beastly hot and muggy as well. Costello, in a black coat, black shirt, black tie, black baggy trousers with tight cuffs and white shoes, returned for his third encore with an exaggerated wipe of his brow. Water dripped from his sleeve during his final songs.
Opening was a new British quartet called Talk Talk, who appear to be this year's non-frills model of Ultravox.
A stagey bunch of overage schoolboys who still must listen a lot to their old Roxy Music records, they dressed in black and white and played simple, spooky dirges, rising to sudden focus in their signature song, also called "Talk Talk," as the drummer beat hell out of his tom-toms and the keyboardist showed that he knew how to use more than one hand on the synth.
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